Sheppey, Isle of

Sheppey, Isle of, c.30 sq mi (80 sq km), Kent, SE England, at the mouth of the Thames, separated from the mainland by The Swale, a narrow strait. It is largely flat, with wave-eroded cliffs to the north. Vegetables and grain are grown on the fertile soil, and sheep are raised. The chief towns are Sheerness, a resort, and Minister, where a church founded there in the late 7th cent. contains the tomb of Robert Shurland, the protagonist of a story in R. H. Barham's Ingoldsby Legends.